Tokyo has no shortage of ¡°Cool Japan¡± experiences. Think sword-wielding samurai, taiko drummers dancing to neon lights and the now-defunct Robot Restaurant¡¯s costumed automatons gyrating to music cranked to 11. Come to Japan, crawl through Shibuya Scramble intersection on a video game-inspired yet legally distinct go-kart and then head back home without wondering too much about what it all meant.
It¡¯s an image of Japan that many businesses think Western tourists want. If they¡¯re wrong, however, and there are tourists out there searching for even just a brief glance at a more authentic side of Japan, offers it.
Located beneath a small park hemmed in on all sides by the commercial high-rises of the Nihonbashi neighborhood, this moodily lit venue hides a restaurant, bar and eye-level stage under the throngs of salarymen above. The stage dominates the space here, as does the backdrop: a roughly 5-meter painting of a stately pine tree that dates back to the Edo Period (1603-1868) and originally backstopped a stage in Kyoto¡¯s Nakagyo Ward, not far from Minamiza, the former capital¡¯s epicenter of kabuki.
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